Microsoft Azure for Small Business: Pros and Cons

Through its Azure for small business package, Microsoft Azure offers a vast range of cloud computing business capabilities for small businesses, including scalability, affordability and support. Azure cloud often has a relevant offering for any small business, no matter its size or revenue.

Depending on the industry, small businesses are typically classified by revenue or number of employees. In the U.S., small wholesale businesses are those with 100 employees or fewer, while small retail businesses should average up to $6 million annually. This guide assesses the pros and cons of Azure for small businesses, explains when to use Azure for small business, and offers cloud computing provider alternatives to Azure.

Pros: Why Choose Microsoft Azure for Small Business

Azure is globally accessible
You get multiple support options with Azure
Azure integrates readily with existing Microsoft products
Azure has a rich set of security tools, especially for hybrid cloud
Azure is highly scalable, so it readily adjusts as your small business grows

Cons: Why Not to Choose Microsoft Azure for Small Business

There’s a high potential for vendor lock-in
You need experts in order to use Microsoft Azure
Due to the complex pricing, you can rake in unexpected costs
The pricing is complex, so you need a cost management system
Performance varies by region, so you can’t get a uniform experience.

Meet the experts

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Adeyomola Kazeem (Writer)

Adeyomola Kazeem is an expert in cloud computing and cloud services, with over five years of experience in writing and technical expertise in Linux and DevOps. Holding a diploma in cloud computing from Altschool Africa and a bachelor of pharmacy from the University of Ibadan, Adeyomola is also an AWS Solutions Architect Associate and AWS Cloud Practitioner, contributing to his proficiency in cloud infrastructure and cloud storage. His expertise encompasses cloud deployment models, virtualization, containerization and serverless computing, making him a valuable asset to Cloudwards in simplifying complex cloud concepts for a wide audience.

More about Adeyomola Kazeem

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Aleksander Hougen (Co-Chief Editor)

Aleksander Hougen, the co-chief editor at Cloudwards, is a seasoned expert in cloud storage, digital security and VPNs, with an educational background in software engineering. Beyond his prolific writing commitment, Aleksander helps with managing the website, keeping it running smoothly at all times. He also leads the video production team and helps craft e-courses on online technology topics. Outside of the professional realm, he is a digital nomad with a passion for traveling, having lived in many countries across four continents.

More about Aleksander Hougen

Learn more about our editorial team and our research process.

What Are the Pros of Choosing Microsoft Azure for Small Businesses?

The pros of choosing Microsoft Azure for small businesses include security, scalability, strong support, easy integration, cost-effectiveness and global reach.

1. Security & Compliance

Security entails proactively preventing threats and effectively resolving attacks to apps and cloud data. Azure offers enterprise-level security software, which is also suitable for small businesses.

Its security offerings are among its most popular services, and many businesses use its identity management service — Microsoft Entra ID — with hybrid cloud, private cloud and public cloud models.

Besides security, Azure’s architecture generally complies with various industry standards. Therefore, when you use Microsoft Azure for your small business, compliance will be one less thing to worry about.

2. Scalability

Scalability is the ability to expand dynamically with increasing demands. As a small business, one of your main targets is growth. Therefore, as your business increases in size, your cloud resources must scale accordingly.

autoscale — With Azure Autoscale, you can schedule scaling based
on repeating schedules or specific dates

Azure has millions of servers to support multiple levels of scaling for its global customer base. As your business grows, you can readily scale up to meet business needs with Azure. You can get more Azure Virtual Machines, Disk Storage, Blob Storage, network and other cloud resources. Also, if you need to scale down during low-traffic moments, Azure lets you do that seamlessly.

3. Strong Support

Support includes all kinds of assistance for Azure customers to ensure the smooth usage of services and resolve any issues. Azure users can access various support channels, both paid and unpaid.

The paid support channels are available in three plans: Developer, Standard and Professional Direct. However, if paid support isn’t within your budget, you still get the free Basic support plan, plus access to community support and various Microsoft Azure learning materials.

4. Easy Integration

Azure cloud’s easy integration highlights its ability to connect with your existing infrastructure seamlessly. If you have existing Microsoft products, such as Windows Server, you can rest assured that your Azure cloud resources will support effortless integrations.

service bus — Service Bus integrates hybrid services with Azure Cloud by relaying messages between on-premises and in-cloud apps.

For instance, if you’re using Azure SaaS (Software as a Service) like Microsoft 365, or Azure PaaS (Platform as a Service) like Azure AI Search before a full migration, you can readily integrate them with your Azure cloud resources.

That aside, Azure also gives you access to various productivity tools. Even if you have to replace an existing cloud solution for better compatibility, you shouldn’t have much to worry about.

5. Cost-Effectiveness

Cost-effectiveness is the degree to which your spending yields results. Like many public cloud providers, Azure is more cost-effective than on-premises computing, especially since you pay only for what you use and don’t have to commit to huge upfront capital investments.

microsoft cost management — Microsoft Cost Management is Azure’s one-stop tool for
cost optimization and financial control.

On Azure, you can readily provision and deprovision resources to manage costs. You’ll also gain access to various cost management tools to optimize your spending.

6. Global Reach

Global reach involves the global availability of Azure resources. Alongside AWS, Azure has one of the largest global reaches of any cloud service provider. It currently has more than 300 data centers, with over 60 in every continent except Antarctica.

global infrastructure — Azure’s global reach is rivaled by only a few cloud providers like AWS.

One upside of Azure’s extensive reach is that your customers can access your services worldwide. As you grow and expand beyond your immediate environment, you can readily reach more people around the world.

What Are the Cons of Choosing Microsoft Azure for Small Businesses?

The cons of choosing Microsoft Azure for small businesses include the need for expertise, potentially high costs, cost management, vendor lock-in and regional performance variations.

1. Need for Expertise

Azure cloud can be pretty complex, particularly because it offers many services with multiple features. Like many cloud providers, it requires knowledge and experience for easy navigation. To achieve this, you could either employ an expert or organize an employee training program. In either case, you’ll have to spend money.

2. Potentially Expensive

Azure is cost-effective by default, thanks to its pay-as-you-go pricing. However, the pricing is sometimes complex, and you risk getting charged for “hidden costs” that can greatly increase your Azure costs. The good news is that you get access to various cost management tools, which can help you avoid such costs.

3. Cost Management

Cost management includes steps and processes to monitor, understand and optimize your spending. Considering the flexibility and ease of provisioning resources in Azure cloud, the chances of wastage and excessive spending are high. To avoid this, you must design cost management policies and a cost management system. Of course, this requires extra effort on your part.

4. Vendor Lock-In

Vendor lock-in is a situation where you rely too much on a cloud provider, making it hard to switch to a different provider. It’s pretty easy to fall into a vendor lock-in with Microsoft Azure cloud, especially if you had existing Microsoft products before joining Azure.

As mentioned earlier, Azure integrates seamlessly with Microsoft products, and this ease of integration might encourage you to add more Azure or Microsoft tools to your collection. Ultimately, your infrastructure may end up being too reliant on Microsoft for you to switch readily.

5. Regional Performance Variations

Regional performance variations indicate differences in the quality of services offered across Azure regions. Most cloud service providers come with regional performance variations for many reasons, including proximity, local regulations, service availability and so on.

Regional performance variations exist in Azure cloud, too. When you choose Azure for your small business, you may want to do a test run in your desired region to ensure that it performs well enough for you.

When Should You Choose Microsoft Azure for Small Businesses Over Other Cloud Providers?

You should choose Microsoft Azure for small businesses over other cloud providers in these situations:

You have an existing Microsoft ecosystem
You need specific Microsoft or Azure products
You want to adopt the hybrid cloud model

Read more about Microsoft Azure in the full review.

What Are the Alternatives of Azure for Small Businesses?

For small businesses, the alternatives of Azure include Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean. Below, you’ll see how these cloud providers for small businesses compare to Azure. You can also see how the top three cloud computing services compare in our Azure vs Google Cloud vs AWS article.

1. Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud is Google’s cloud service provider. It has the third-largest market share in the cloud provider industry, and it’s revered for its innovations and cloud solutions in the data, AI and machine learning fields.

Like Azure, Google Cloud offers scalability, global reach, security and cost-effectiveness. It’s particularly great for small businesses that need AI, data analytics or machine learning. That said, it doesn’t offer as many services as Azure. Read more in our Google Cloud Review.

2. AWS (Amazon Web Services)

AWS Global — AWS first offered Amazon Simple Queue Service for beta testing in
2004, two years before the official launch.

AWS is Amazon’s cloud computing platform. With the largest market share in the cloud provider industry, it’s often called the pioneer of modern cloud computing. It has one of the largest cloud computing reaches worldwide and offers more services than most. AWS and Azure have similar pricing for small businesses, but AWS edges out Azure slightly in terms of the number of services.

Like Azure, AWS has a learning curve. Also, AWS doesn’t offer Software as a Service (SaaS); it has only Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). However, with its many service options, tiers and so on, you’ll likely find something that satisfies your needs. You can also look forward to AWS’ robust security, scalability and cost-effectiveness.

3. DigitalOcean

Owned by DigitalOcean Holdings Inc., DigitalOcean is a cloud provider that’s revered for its relatively uncomplicated pricing and user-friendly interface, which are highly valued in small businesses. Because of those qualities, DigitalOcean has a somewhat lower learning curve compared to Microsoft Azure. However, this is also partly because it offers fewer services.

Final Thoughts

Azure is great for small businesses due to its scalability, security, multiple support channels, easy integration with the Microsoft ecosystem, global reach and cost-effectiveness. That said, you’ll need expertise to use Azure, and you can get too dependent on its services. In addition, Azure is potentially expensive, and its performance levels vary across regions.

Of the three alternatives to Azure for small businesses that we mentioned, which would you opt for and why? What other alternatives would you consider? Share your experience with us in the comments. Thank you for reading.

FAQ: Azure Cloud Infrastructure for Small Business

Azure makes sense for a small business, particularly one that has existing Microsoft products.
Azure is not free for small businesses. While Azure offers some always-free cloud services, you have to pay for most services. That said, you can get cheaper rates with discounted pricing models such as Reservation.
The best cloud platform for a small business depends on the business’s needs. For instance, if your business often uses data analytics, AI or machine learning, Google Cloud Platform might be the best option. However, if you want scalability and a vast range of products, AWS is the perfect choice.
One difference between Azure and AWS for small business is that Azure integrates well with the Microsoft ecosystem and has a strong focus on hybrid cloud, while AWS offers a broader range of services and has more global reach.

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